Hamburg SV striker Naohiro Takahara is most likely to be left out of Japan's squad for next month's Athens Olympics, Kozo Tashima, head of the Japan Football Association technical committee said Thursday.
Tashima said technical committee members have agreed not to send Takahara, who is recovering from a second bout of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), to Athens a day after doctors warned of the negative impact the disorder would have on him at the Olympic tournament.
"I can only say our policy (on Takahara) has already been made," Tashima said. "I think we will have to provide psychological support for him after such a disappointing decision especially because he was very eager to play in the Olympics."
JFA President Saburo Kawabuchi said that the decision will not change unless doctors alter their opinion that Takahara needs three months of treatment.
On Wednesday, Kawabuchi quoted doctors as saying that playing in the Olympics in his current physical condition "would put his health in great danger."
The JFA will announce the final 18-man Olympic squad Friday afternoon. Kawabuchi said he would tell Tashima about the final decision on Takahara by the technical committee by Friday noon.